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Meet Ai Ly, a jeans designer for Ralph Lauren. In New York magazine's latest Look Book, Ai confesses that despite being the evil one behind atrociously expensive jeans, she prefers vintage — so much so, in fact, that she owns pieces that have vintage blood stains on them. So hip, right? Ai also makes her own clothes, thinks tomahawk-style fringe and feathers will be big for spring, and considers her look very "ragamuffin." We don't know; she lost us at the blood stains. Intern Alexis (who has a much stronger stomach than we do) rounds up Maisie Tivnan, Sarah Gray, and Daniel Feder for further analysis.

Maisie Tivnan, Oral history junkie

Ai shops at Mood like all the Project Runway designers! What would Tim Gunn have to say to Ai?

"Aiiiiii...I love the black, but I'm just concerned it's too Pocahontas-goes-to-England-only-to-die-of-tuberculosis. Until you reconcile the bloodstained drindle with the neo-mod cardigan, I can't promise you a great response from the judges. But the Hamas-inspired scarf? Yes, so bold, I love it. Carry on."

Ai mentions that some of her garments have bloodstains on them. Where did said bloodstains come from?

Custer's Last Stand. It was really bad.

What kind of muffin is Ai? Because she is not a ragamuffin.

Why a corn muffin, of course. As we all well know, without the Native American's helpful agricultural tips and enormously poor judgment of character, our silly, religious forefathers would have starved to death in the New World. It was the mighty ear of corn that allowed the people of this sweet country to flourish and ultimately invent jeans.

(For the record, this native American really liked Ai's outfit.)


Sarah Gray, high school English teacher

Ai shops at Mood like all the Project Runway designers! What would Tim Gunn have to say to Ai?

Aside from the obvious "carry on" and "make it work," Tim would clearly be concerned about the transparency of Ai's skirt when it goes down the runway.

Ai mentions that some of her garments have bloodstains on them. Where did said bloodstains come from?

Probably from the arteries of the Native Americans she co-opts and exploits to gain her fashion inspiration. Although I guess Colin Farrell would make me, like, want to wear, like, feathers, too. Incidentally, her bag is made from Tim Gunn's scalp.

What kind of muffin is Ai? Because she is not a ragamuffin.

Mmm... look at that glimmer in little Ai's eye, aye? She's clearly one of those double chocolate muffins on the counter at coffee shops that tries to tempt me away from my 24 Weight Watchers points a day, and then makes me wish I had the willpower to be bulimic.


Daniel Feder, publishing and editorial assistant

Ai shops at Mood like all the Project Runway designers! What would Tim Gunn have to say to Ai?

Ah, Tim Gunn, the James Lipton of the fashion world. There's something about becoming the dean of a school in a discipline desperate to be taken seriously that just makes you want to whore yourself out to Bravo, isn't there? I'm punting because I've never actually seen more than 20 minutes of Project Runway (Heidi Klum's screeching makes the dog in my neighbor's apartment go crazy), but I can only imagine that Tim Gunn would be proud that fashion discourse has risen to the level of, "That will be cool for spring — like, feathers."

Ai mentions that some of her garments have bloodstains on them. Where did said bloodstains come from?

There are people bleeding all over the world: casualties of war, victims of terrorism, survivors of some of the worst natural disasters in human history. Some might see this state of affairs as a tragedy, or perhaps as a wake-up call to go out and do something good for those less fortunate. Ai, apparently, sees it as an opportunity to make a fashion statement: oh good, some blood!

What kind of muffin is Ai? Because she is not a ragamuffin.

No, Ai is not a ragamuffin; never washing your jeans is a little more disease-ridden, skid-marked, pus-filled, seething-but-smiling through your determinedly cool-because-it's-urine-soaked fashionista-fa ade low-fat muffin.